Companies in this industry operate natural gas distribution systems that serve customer locations, broker the sale of gas to distributors, and buy natural gas and directly distribute it to customers. Major companies include Sempra Energy and CenterPoint Energy (both based in the US); Gassco (Norway); GasTerra (Netherlands); Gazprom (Russia); Centrica (UK); and GDF SUEZ (France); as well as the natural gas distribution subsidiaries of US companies such as Dominion Resources and ONEOK.

Global exports of natural gas total more than 1 trillion cubic meters, including US exports of about 45 billion cubic meters, according to BP's 2014 Statistical Review of World Energy. Russia, Qatar, Norway, and Canada are among the world's largest natural gas exporters. Driven largely by demand from emerging markets, global natural gas consumption is expected to increase by about 60 percent by 2040 (from 2010), according to the US Energy Information Administration.

The US natural gas distribution and marketing industry includes about 2,400 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of about $110 billion.

Natural gas producers are covered in the Oil & Gas Exploration & Production industry profile. Companies primarily engaged in pipeline transportation of natural gas from production sites to distribution systems are covered in the Natural Gas Pipelines industry profile.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Demand for natural gas is driven by energy use, which in turn is influenced by overall economic activity. The profitability of natural gas distributors depends largely on...